AP

Psalm 68:24-27    Your procession, God, has come into view, the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary.  In front are the singers, after them the musicians; with them are the young women playing the timbrels.  Praise God in the great congregation; praise the LORD in the assembly of Israel.  There is the little tribe of Benjamin, leading them, there the great throng of Judah’s princes, and there the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali.

This psalm is attributed to King David and is probably associated with the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.  The whole psalm celebrates the unity-in-diversity of the people of God in worship as the twelve tribes of Israel rejoice together in the LORD’s power and majesty.

There is perhaps some significance in David’s mentioning just four tribes by name.  Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob and his mother, Rachel, had died giving birth to him.  His descendants were smallest in number of all the tribes, but Israel’s first king, David’s predecessor, Saul, came from this tribe.  In spite of Saul’s weakness and abject failure as a king, it is clear that David had had great respect for him because he was ‘the LORD’s Anointed’.  Judah was David’s own tribe, from whom would finally come the Promised Messiah, ‘Anointed One’.

Zebulun was the youngest son of Judah’s mother, Leah, and Naphtali was the younger son of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, but these two were very much in the background in the scheme of things.  Perhaps David gave special mention to these four to highlight the scope of the relevance and gifts of God’s people as they rejoiced together in their God.

Also noteworthy is the part played by music and song in their praise of their God – and I can’t help reflecting on the part played by our brothers and sisters in the Salvation Army as I read (in verse 25) of ‘the young women playing the timbrels (ESV – ’tambourines’) in the great marching procession!

How important it is for the world-wide Church today, the People of God, the New Israel, to learn from this great psalm.  God calls us from vastly different backgrounds and blesses us with quite different gifts so that we will share these things together as we seek to be used by our God to bring blessing to his world.  This is the real burden of the Apostle Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 12 – let us all be both encouraged and motivated by it.

– Bruce Christian